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Charlamagne Tha God Talks To VIBE About Kanye Interview

Bonsu Thompson, of VIBE magazine calls Charlamagne Tha God to get the inside scoop on how he prepared for the highly-anticipated interview with Kanye West.

As always, Charlamagne remains true and provides nothing but honest answers throughout the phone interview.

Here are a few highlights:

VIBE: When did you first hear that you were going to interview Kanye?Friday [the station] hit me and said Kanye would be coming to the station [on Monday] at 10am. My reply back was ‘Yeah, right. I’ll believe it when I see it.’ That was literally my reply back, and I didn’t think nothing else of it. On Sunday, we got a call from Def Jam like ‘Kanye’s not going to do the interview unless you go see his show.’ I was like ‘I’m going to watch my Cowboys play the Giants.’ [Laughs] I would love to interview him, but I’m not beat. Angela Yee ended up going to the show and he ended up coming.

VIBE: Kanye walks in for his interview. What’s his energy like?First thing the label people asked was, ‘Charlamagne, you going to be nice today? ‘Absolutely not,’ was my response. Nice to them is me throwing softball questions and stroking his ego. That’s not what I do. I’m either a fan or a disgruntled fan. With ‘Ye I was a disgruntled fan. All year this guy has turned me off. I’m looking at him like ‘Who is this guy?’ What is your agenda? If you’re upset because they won’t allow you into the fashion world, that’s a Kanye West plight. That’s not a black people plight. How does you not getting into the fashion world effect us as a community?

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VIBE: You’re tough. Getting back to the interview, Kanye walks in and…He gives me a pound. That was the last time he looked me in the eye until the interview was over.

VIBE: Ha! I saw that. Wasn’t that planned?After the interview, I said we should stare at each other. He’s like ‘Yeah, like me and 50 Cent [on the Rolling Stone cover] Then he says, ‘You know the whole time my plan was not to look at you.’ There’s a picture I posted on Instagram of us laughing. That’s what we’re laughing at.

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VIBE: You don’t see any plausibility in what Kanye feels is trailblazing or even activism? Only because he’ll be like we need more black ownership then say ‘cause Louis Vuitton wouldn’t take a meeting with me, don’t go to Louis Vuitton in Atlanta. Meanwhile people are protesting over Stop & Frisk, Trayvon’s family is still out here fighting for justice, but you want to use your voice to tell people not to go to Louis Vuitton because they wouldn’t take a meeting with you? How self-serving is that? Not, ‘Don’t go to Barneys because they’re racial-profiling.’